Diary of a COVID-19 Lockdown

Two weeks before a total lock down in New Zealand I was attending a book festival and visiting my daughter in Wellington. COVID-19 was know as coronavirus and was happening somewhere else. This is the diary of a COVID-19 lock down in Christchurch. We knew it would make it here but we didn’t know how fast.

Our diary

This diary of the lockdown is a simple photographic record of the things that we observed each day. Ideally just one, but sometimes more. It is also designed to capture some of the emotions around this time but not to dwell on them. The future is unknown and so is therefore the content of this diary.

BTW go here for accurate and up to date information for New Zealand and here for health specific updates.

Day 1 (26 March)

Like many others working in public health I was coming off a 10 day stint. My day off coinciding with the lock down felt very odd.
In many ways it just felt like a normal day off except when I went walking the dog people crossed the road to avoid me.
The day started with our youngest coming out of her isolation room at the back of the section thereby ending our just achieved empty nest status.

Day 2

The creative things people come up with at times like these always impress me. Today it was putting teddy bears in your window for children to count as they walk along the road.

Watching a dad and young daughter doing this brought a genuine tear to my eye. So we had to do our part. The pink bear is ‘special bear’ given to whichever child needed just a little bit more care when they were young – seems appropriate.

Day 3

Today was weirdly like a normal Saturday, expect for sitting down for a 1 pm update on the news. Between us there was dog walking, gardening, laying in bed and sanding the house.
The chickens were happy that life was seemingly settled as their coup filled with yummy weeds from our efforts. They did seem to have heard the message of keeping your distance by the look of this grumpy gal laying down the law.

Day 4

Work day for me. A few of us need to be in the office because of our public health role.

The day started ok with biking down a deserted Cranford St, usually to be avoided because its so busy. It was a sobering day though with the first death from COVID-19. We did of course know this was likely to happen at some point. Just keep remembering we can make a huge difference to the final outcome by keeping up our efforts for lockdown.

BTW The Allright? poster in the background says “Its alright to take a breather” some might feel that is all you are doing at the moment but it might also mean a breather from news and social media.

Day 5

Another work day for me, systems are working and its busy but it feels a lot more sane.

We are all getting better at using a variety of tools to communicate. My phone is full of apps for both home and work, messenger, zoom, vidyo, houseparty, microsoft teams to name a few. But sometimes the good old teleconference works a treat. I wonder how much we keep this up after its all over.

Day 6 – 31st of March

The end of March and for many of us it has been a month that we thought might never end. Its significant for us for another reason.

Today we celebrated our 30th Wedding anniversary. Thank goodness I was a young bride or I would feel very old. I went in late to work so we could at least have breakfast together and then Lara produced a delicious meal. So not quite the tramping expedition we had planned but plenty of time for that on the other side.

Day 7- one week down

The sun was out as I left work today so I took a route home through Hagley Park. There were a lot of people out but they all seemed to be in small bubbles and all keeping the two meters apart from any other bubble. Its certainly an odd thing to watch. I had my camera on me to get the autumn colours but was foiled on two counts. It was still a little early and no memory card. I haven’t made that mistake for a while so phone pic it is.

Day 8

Beautiful sunny day at home today getting a few chores done. Put gran to work on stewing apples foraged from a neighbours (who is not living at home!) We wouldn’t risk our bubble.

Discovered I have nearly run out of jars not thinking I would have time to do much this year. Like a few other things we got rid of never expecting a 4 week lockdown. hmmm don’t think any of us predicted this earlier in the year.

Day 9

Friday drinks, usually had in town and often just the boys. Many of us are finding ways to keep connected with our friends and this is such a great way. Even managed to talk about non COVID subjects! I am possibly not the best selfie taker will keep practicing. BTW the theme was Hawaiian.

Day 10

Another very grey day, really looking forward to a nice sunset or sunrise. No worries that I can’t get out for it. Work again today and biking home down Cranford St at 5pm the difference to ‘normal’ was stark.

This intersection has just been finished. It has been hugely controversial as two lanes each way (plus extra turning lanes) close down to a normal suburban road at this point. No worries today though at peak traffic time.

Day 11

Not like a normal Sunday that is for sure. But the sun did come out and pink sky early on. Very early on given it was the end of daylight saving. The extra hour in bed was gratefully received.

Work beckoned again today so I thought I would share the view from my window as I left at the end of the day. The days are going to start to shorten quickly I can see.

Day 12

I am really missing heading out to get sunrise. To be honest we have not had that many great ones recently so this morning was a real treat. Times like this you are happy to have two stories.

I was tempted to climb Cam’s painting scaffolding but that would have been a scary sight in my nighty. As it was I was met in the street by an early walker when I had been sure no one would spot me! Decided this deserved two shots to show how big it was across the sky.

Day 13

A day off today, well minus a few zoom meetings. Still it was good to just chill out and enjoy the sunshine. I even felt inspired to get the camera out and see if I could capture anything around home. Ended up being Maggie.

There have been so many funny memes about dogs being over walked that we decided to give Maggie a day off and just play in the backyard. All she needs is a stick to act like a nut.

Day 14 – the end of week 2

We started off the lockdown with no moon so two weeks in and its a full moon. I had great hopes of getting a nice clear shot of the super moon but it literally showed itself for only seconds. You get the idea though of what it might have been like if the sky was cloud free.

Something I learnt recently the full moon always rise at a similar time to sunset. So if conditions are right you can get it with still some pink in the sky. Not tonight though.

Day 15

Easter holidays start tomorrow. Very weird as everyday just runs into the next. But we did manage to spread some Easter cheer at work today. Sharing of food, usually a way to support and encourage each other, is off with the pandemic rules. But today an extra effort was made to safely share hot cross buns and carrot cake. Very much appreciated.

So what is it we do? We are the public health unit at the Canterbury District Health Board. Our role is to receive notifications of cases, investigate these to identify close contacts, get everyone who needs to be into isolation, check on them regularly (often daily via phone) and then release them from isolation when safe to do so. That is a fairly simplistic description. There is plenty of complexity, as you can imagine, but its what we are trained for even if not usually at this scale. My piece at the moment is channeling my inner nerd to work with the databases we use both locally and nationally so all this runs as smoothly as possible.

Day 16

Easter Friday and work was lovely and peaceful at last. I even managed a walk around the city at lunch time. Walking back past Briscoes I had to smile. We all make so many jokes about Briscoes and their constant sales and how unsettling it is when we find there isn’t one. It turns out I don’t need to feel unsettled at all the sale continues just online only!

Personally I am loving the shops all being shut but I am not underestimating the economic impact for the workers and businesses. The autumn colours were pretty awesome though. I imagine it will be pretty busy when these places open again.

Day 17

Well its the Easter holidays and I have most of it off so relaxing time starts now. So since I have gone on about my work I thought I should show you the real worker through this lockdown. Between Zoom meetings you will find Cam painting the house.

Now don’t fear he has all the safety gear including harness attached to deck piles and the truck parked in the neighbours… yes you did read that right. Lucky he thought to by paint a few days before the lockdown was announced.

Day 18

Its handy having someone up on scaffolding when the Nor’wester really shows itself. I handed Cam the camera with some vague instructions of a panorama then stitched it together to get this.

Bad weather is on its way so the painting is going full on, I wouldn’t be able to work I would have to turn around all the time. What am I saying we all know I would never be up there both too hard a yaka for me and too high.

Day 19

Almost got through Easter without an Easter post. Today on our walk we spotted not just teddy bears but also lots of Easter messages in windows and chalked on the pavements. Lara even managed a couple in our window for the bears to hold. I managed to get quite a break over this holiday. Given the great weather it was a mixture of enjoying the sunshine at home and missing being in the hills somewhere. But as we keep saying the hills will still be there.

Day 20

Todays post actually happened on the saturday of Easter but I waited till she looked a bit happier to take her photo.

Chance would have it we notice a large abscess like sore on Maggies foot just hours after our vet closes for Easter. So a trip to the afterhours vet couldn’t be avoided. What a slick machine they ran. Arrive and fill out a form, wait in your car to be called, hand over your dog to a fully vet nurse in full PPE, wait for the vet to call, agree on treatment then another call to pay before your dog is brought back out. Very impressive really and very orderly.

So with the drugs in her and sore disappearing she is all smiles now, except of course for that huge cone of shame. And for the laughter that follows her everywhere as tries to maneuver around the house.

Day 21

I have been watching these trees patiently waiting for the first feijoa’s to drop. These are a love it or hate it fruit and I am in the love it camp. It is going to be a struggle to keep up this year though and I will admit to taking a few into work. Carefully picked with washed hands and individually bagged so no rummaging around in a box of free fruit the way we would usually share food at work.

BTW our feijoa’s are huge often just one fits in the palm of your hand. Yum yum yum.

Day 22

The Terrace usually heaving on a Thursday night was completely empty after work today. I needed a little detour as it was a busy day at work. I had hoped for some nice sunset skies since I was still in town at that time but it didn’t perform. The only thing around keeping we company was a few ducks and the occasional person walking through.

Day 23

We have been missing our big dog walks so its good to have Maggie back in business. I know we could do them without her but seriously the motivation is lacking. This is on one of our walks and while it is not something I have just discovered, I have biked or walked past it numerous times, I still think its cool to see this on your walk through the city.

I know when we first moved into St Albans I thought we were on the outskirts of town with all the paddocks around us. Motorway is encroaching now but still some left.

Day 24

Probably one of the most talked about and anticipated returns is to the hairdresser. Lara introduced me to Brad Mondo on YouTube on how to cut her hair. We didn’t quite look like his model with here tri coloured hair but did pretty good we think. Vicky at VforHair has cut my hair for the last 10 years and luckily did a blog on taking the clippers to the mens hair. Cam doesn’t look all that impressed but really I don’t think I could have mucked it up there isn’t that much to ruin.

As for me I am just going to wait which is going to be a challenge, the only other options is shaving it off. hmmm

Day 25

The initial 4 weeks is nearly up and we are all waiting to find out tomorrow what next. Personally I wouldn’t mind another week at Level 4 to really get on top of the current cases. My pick would be they extend it by a week then onto Level 3. But all will be revealed tomorrow.

It was nice today though to hear both the Director General of Health and the Prime Minister thank the public health units, usually as she said invisible. They also noted the 7 day rosters we are doing at the moment. Really it doesn’t matter what day of the week you are at work as all the days run together.

I did get away while the sun was still shining and sky super blue today. A little swing by on my bike through Cathedral Square on the way home. Once again spookily empty on a sunny afternoon.

Day 26 – decision day

Well I picked it, as did many others. It makes total sense to do one more week to ensure everything is as under control as it could be. We hit the peak of cases while we were in lockdown so now we can hopefully manage anything that comes along and stamp them out as they arise.

The Ashley show, as the 1 pm daily update has become known, was a 4 pm update today with Jacinda and Ashley fronting. Whatever your politics its hard to not to be pleased with New Zealand’s response and particularly the leaders turning up day after day. I realise this blog is nearing an end and they have not yet appeared on it so here they are from the big screen as we watched at work today. Practicing social distancing of course.

Day 27

Time to enjoy another amazing autumn day and I feel the need to share more autumn pictures. I was working from home today so these are from the last couple of equally sunny days when I went for lunchtime walks.

You know when you do all those team building personality type exercises? Well my strengths are bossiness (which they actually call it leadership), honesty and integrity so I had an overwhelming need to admit to you these two photos are not from today. There I have dealt with my anxiety and will be back to daily shots tomorrow, enjoy.

Day 28 – 4 week mark

So here we are at 4 weeks in Level 4 lockdown. It strangely been both the longest and shortest 4 weeks ever.

We succeed in what we set out to do and break the chain of transmission that was threatening to go crazy. We are not out of the woods and have another 5 days of this to go but we are definitely in a better place.

Today we, as a family, placed a first order with our local butcher, Peter Timbs, to support local. This is going to be a new way of doing things for us to help businesses get back on their feet. Next week we will find a local vege delivery.

I don’t have a photo of that instead my photo today is about how to celebrate at distance. At our team catch up today we wanted to acknowledge our fantastic admin member Tracy (top left). This was done via signs and Zoom backgrounds. Including a few drawings from the young members of our team from their bubbles.

Day 31 ANZAC Day

I am not carrying on doing day by day as this getting way too long so instead doing today and then a final post as we come out of Level 4 lockdown.

Today was a very different ANZAC day. No big gatherings so we all came out to our driveways at 6am to listen to the radio to hear the last post as well as hearing anyone playing in the streets. It was incredibly moving and I was really impressed with how many came out.

Later in the day all pipers were to play Amazing Grace at 11 am so we got the grandparents on messenger video and Anna played us a few tunes. All in all a pretty good remembrance day in a very different way. The street totally got into as you can see from the collage.

Day 33 – The end of Level 4

So just like that we move to Level 3. In many ways still very restricted but in other small important ways it opens ups. We can bring Gran back into our bubble, we can go to our nearest beach for a walk, we can order takeaways.

It has been a busy 33 days for us in Public Health but so worth it seeing how we have done as a country. So I finish this with a few collages of the last week. Empty city streets, grooming the woolly dog, autumn flowers and birds, sunsets, walks and still more painting.